When We Start Killing
by Okami No Yume
Summary: Quent is bound and determined to hunt every wolf, down to the last pelt. His thoughts throughout his journey. Songfic. Inspired by Within Temptation’s “The Howling.”


**When We Start Killing**

A Wolf's Rain fanfic

Disclaimer: I do not own Wolf's Rain, or the following lyrics. They belong to the wonderful, talented band Within Temptation, from their album "The Heart of Everything." In short, I own nothing you see here. I make no profit, yadda yadda yadda. We clear that I don't own? Good.

A/N: It's been a long while since I've done one of these. I was listening to Within Temptation's "The Howling", and this song got me thinking about wolves, and then it really made me think of Quent. So…I decided to write this. Hope you like it.

* * *

For Quent Yaiden, it has been a good hunting day. He's brought home venison for his wife to cure and store in the larder for the winter, along with a couple of fat rabbits to put into a stew. The years get leaner and leaner, as it gets more difficult to provide for his family, but he has managed. They will survive one more year.

However, the battle for survival is a precarious one. There's a pack of wolves picking the forests around their tiny village clean of game.

Over recent years, the pack has been moving closer and closer in, given no other choice but to steal their precious livestock. Since they have no other alternative, the population of their natural prey has all but vanished. The competition over resources with the wolves fosters resentment between man and beast. Quent has no qualms about placing a bullet between the eyes of one of those snarling savages.

To some, wolves are creatures of wonder, woven into myth and legend, and are to be revered and respected. To the Hami Indians, they are sacred animals.

To him, they are nothing more than vermin to be exterminated.

After all, it is survival of the fittest.

He considers getting a hunting dog, to combat the impending threat to his, and his town's existence.

_**We've been seeing what you wanted, got us cornered right now**_

_**Fallen asleep from our vanity, might cost us our lives**_

_**I hear they're getting closer**_

_**Their howls are sending chills down my spine**_

_**And time is running out now**_

_**They're coming down the hills from behind**_

He kisses his wife hello, and then hangs up his coat and hat, and locks away his hunting rifle. His son Russe runs up to his arms, and grinning, he lifts him up, laughing. His life is a simple one, but happy. He wouldn't have it any other way. He thinks about getting Russe a puppy for his next birthday. The boy has wanted one for a long time. He could use a companion.

_**When we start killing**_

_**It's all coming down right now**_

_**From the nightmare we've created,**_

_**I want to be awakened somehow**_

_**I want to be awakened right now**_

Spring arrives, and Russe finds a tiny black pup, her eyes barely opened. Her eyes are the deepest shade of azure blue that Quent has ever seen. And thus, she is named Blue.

Of course, he knows what she is. As she grows, his suspicions are only confirmed: she's not a true dog. She's a half-blood.

He looks into her eyes, and sees trust, loyalty, love, an eagerness to please. The dog in her overrides the wolf.

Satisfied, he decides that he will turn her into a hunting dog.

_**When we start killing it all will be falling down**_

_**From the Hell that we're in**_

_**All we are is fading away**_

_**When we start killing...**_

He begins to train her. She's a bright thing, and quick to learn. She does not chase squirrels or rabbits at a whim, like most other young pups. She knows that when the collar goes on, Pops means business.

However, when the collar comes off, she becomes Russe's beloved playmate.

_**We've been searching all night long but there's no trace to be found**_

_**It's like they all have just vanished but I know they're around**_

_**I feel they're getting closer**_

_**Their howls are sending chills down my spine**_

_**And time is running out now**_

_**They're coming down the hills from behind**_

Kyrios is burning. Tongues of flame lick and devour the tiny town.

Terror. Confusion. Chaos. Agonized screams rent the air, only to be cut short by the harsh report of gunfire.

Wolves. There are wolves amongst the burning ruins of the town, like hounds emerged from the mouth of hell to feast on the dead.

Quent sees a giant wolf standing over the bodies of his family, as if it were cut from the night itself. The broken body of his son dangles from its jaws like a rag doll. The wolf feeds on the tiny corpse. The popping, ripping sound of flesh being torn from bone will forever echo in his nightmares.

The wolf has one yellow eye whose gaze sears into his soul like a brand.

He lifts his rifle and begins firing.

As he buries the charred remains of his family the next morning, he swears he will hunt down every wolf down to the last pelt, until he finds that single-eyed bastard.

Blue whines and licks his hand as he sits in the sun, looking at the simple grave markers side by side. One for Russe, one for Emily.

He scratches her ears roughly, his mouth set in a hard, grim line.

Soon, it will be time for Blue to earn her keep. He's going to have to up her training. It won't be deer or rabbits that she tracks. Instead, she will learn to hunt wolves.

_**When we start killing**_

_**It's all coming down right now**_

_**From the nightmare we've created**_

_**I want to be awakened somehow**_

_**(I want to be awakened right now)**_

Three years pass. Blue reaches her full size, and becomes a formidable hunter, mercilessly tracking down the wolves at the bidding of her master.

They travel from place to place, taking work wherever they can find it.

He takes on bounties for rogue wolves and family packs, eradicating them. He makes enough to support himself and Blue, and enough to sit in bars and drink until he can barely walk.

While her master drowns his sorrows in whiskey, Blue patiently waits for him. She often sleeps, and dreams of spring days, endless blue skies, cool mountain breezes and a child's joyous laughter.

_**When we start killing it all will be falling down**_

_**From the Hell that we're in**_

_**All we are is fading away**_

_**When we start killing...**_

_**When we start killing...**_

Freeze City. They're here, all right. He knows from experience that they trick the humans by hiding amongst them. But no matter what, Quent always finds them. They can't hide from Blue's nose.

A white wolf. Quent puts a bullet in him, but somehow the son of a bitch manages to get away.

There aren't many left. He'll hunt them all to extinction.

He has to do it for Russe. For his wife. For Kyrios. For every wolf he kills, and every bounty he collects, it's all for them. Vengeance is all he has left.

The wolves flee the city, and Quent follows hot on their trail. That white one will fetch a good price.

He still hasn't found that wolf with the single eye. He'll find him, or he'll die trying.

After all, he's got nothing left to lose.

_**I feel they're getting closer**_

_**Their howls are sending chills down my spine**_

_**And time is running out now**_

_**They're coming down the hills from behind**_

Blue stands over a corpse.

He points the rifle at her, but can't bring himself to pull the trigger.

He hesitates, shaking as he views her through the scope. This isn't just another wolf, this is Blue, for God sakes. The only family he's got left.

She runs away from him.

He lowers his rifle, still trembling, clicking the safety on.

Somehow, he knows, the wolf within her has been awakened.

_**The sun is rising**_

_**The screams have gone**_

_**Too many have fallen**_

_**Few still stand tall**_

_**Is this the ending of what we've begun?**_

_**Will we remember what we've done wrong?**_

Quent travels alone for a while. What drives him onward, he isn't completely sure. He no longer has Blue, ever since she ran wild with those wolves, damn them. On some level, he always knew this would happen, deep down. That his beloved companion and hunting partner would turn on him, abandon him once she'd learned of her true nature. He'd thought that perhaps, the wolf blood in her could be suppressed, but he has been proven wrong. The wolf in her has won out over the dog.

He has to come to terms with it. Blue's no longer his dog. Blue has gone rogue. He knows that when he sees her next, he should put her down. Now that she's gone feral, she can never be trusted again. She's a killer now.

He wonders, when the time comes, can he really do it? Can he really shoot her, like she's just another bounty?

He can't bring himself to answer that.

_**When we start killing**_

_**It's all coming down right now**_

_**From the nightmare we've created**_

_**I want to be awakened somehow**_

_**I want to be awakened right now**_

Quent is wounded. He can feel himself dying, and knows he won't last much longer.

It is only his hatred of the wolves that keeps him alive at this point. He remembers shoving Blue out of the way of the car, and then the impact as it hit him, and then, blackness.

It doesn't matter, really. His eyesight has been failing in recent years. He's not as good a shot as he used to be, and he knows that his liver is shot to hell from the years of hard drinking.

Now, he's with one called…Toboe. Blue has entrusted the young pup to look after him.

The irony of being looked after by a wolf is not lost on Quent.

_**When we start killing it all will be falling down**_

_**From the Hell that we're in**_

_**All we are is fading away**_

_**When we start killing...**_

_**When we start killing...**_

_**When we start killing...**_

_Darcia._

Quent realizes now, as he gazes into that single eye. This is the wolf that killed his family. This is the monster that took everything from him. This is the demon that's haunted his nightmares for so long.

The noble declares them unfit for Paradise, in a flat, dispassionate tone.

Shakily, he lifts his gun, and fires. At the same instant, Darcia has lifted a pistol, and he aims for Quent's chest. For a moment, time seems suspended, slowing to a crawl.

Quent watches in horror as the bullet strikes Toboe instead of his intended target, and the young pup collapses to the ground. He looks down dumbly, and realizes he himself has been hit in the chest. Coughing up blood, he crawls to Toboe, and embraces him.

Far too late, the hunter has realized the error of his ways. This wolf has sacrificed his life for him, all in vain. He did it to please Blue. This wolf is as brave and noble as any dog that would serve his master faithfully. Remorse suddenly floods him for all the lives he's taken.

He supposes that this is his punishment, to die like this. Funny, he's never believed in karmic justice, up until now, as he lies here, dying, his blood seeping into the frozen ground, mingling with the wolf pup's. He feels Toboe's final breath leave his body as they exchange a few final words. Toboe apologizes for not being able to protect him. Quent longs to say that there is nothing to forgive, that he is the one that should be saying he's sorry, should be the one to seek repentance for his actions against his species.

He hears Blue's voice as he holds Toboe's body close to him, the warmth already beginning to fade from him, waiting for death to come claim him as well. It won't be long, now. Perhaps he'll finally see Russe and his wife Emily on the other side.

He looks into a familiar pair of sapphire eyes one final time, and as everything fades to black, and he feels no more pain.

_Good bye, Blue…maybe I'll see you again in Paradise._

_**Fin**_


End file.
